Thinking about Political Maturation

The Inquiry

Our conception of politics is that it is about obtaining access to the wealth and power of a society, and managing these authoritatively via governing institutions for the good of the people, both individually and as a whole.

Our Axiom	Political institutions evolve as people become more aware, more responsible and more reasonable.
Our Challenge	To precisely formulate distinctive stages in maturation as the «political ethos» (= political culture = set of political principles and institutions). To explain the transitions from one political stage to another in a way that is recognizably natural (i.e. accords with human nature) and progressive (i.e. represents beneficial development).
Our Starting Point	We must determine the nature of a primitive political condition in society in a what I call «time-before-design».
Our Inquiry Process	We must understand how and why that primitive state is transformed, and to what new and better state … and then why that second state is transformed (if it can be), … and so on till a conclusion is reached where there can be no further maturation.
Our Goal	The challenge is to conceive as good a political state for society as is possible for human beings. This will not be a utopia. It will simply be a condition of societal or political maturity. Social controversy, conflict and problems will be as plentiful and as painful as ever.

Notes

What does «better» mean in politics?

«Better» is a judgement to be made by the populace taken as a whole and individually. It is society’s values that either maintain any political condition, or drive it forward to something new and «better».

«Better» must also, surely, entail managing human lusts better, but we must never imagine their diminution within any person or their disappearance from society.

To repeat: the end-point is maturity not utopia.

How can cultural-historical variation be handled?

The exact manifestations and timings of political maturation through distinct stages will vary enormously due to historical, cultural, technological, economic and other factors.  We intend to use this taxonomic inquiry to discover certain deep general patterns that allow for enormous variability in their manifestation.

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Next Steps

• Be open-eyed about political life in the «time before design», but also
• Remain attuned to the enlightened goal of politics.

Originally posted: July 2009; Last updated: 27 Feb-2014